Sand Packs for Circulation and Relaxation

While some people may simply enjoy lying on the sand to sunbathe, a number of sun worshippers prefer to lie in the sand, a treatment referred to in the Edgar Cayce readings as “sand packs.” Early on, shortly after moving to Virginia Beach, I learned that the sand was special: “The radiation from the gold and radium in the proportions that you find in Virginia Beach… is the better for the conditions of the body [twenty-four-year-old woman suffering from chronic ulcerative colitis].” (Cayce) Of course, it wasn’t the type of gold to attract a Forty-Niner’s gold rush as in California, but beneficial enough to entice participants to join A.R.E.’s own Sandman, Herbert Avrum Levine, to receive a proper sand pack. Many conferees throughout the years participated in this treatment as part of their overall conference experience.

Value of Sand Packs

“See, the sands and the radiation upon same are such as to be most beneficial to the general nervous system of anyone…” (Cayce) “these will be helpful and beneficial for the iodine as may be obtained by absorption…” (Cayce) “Those sands as carry most of the curative forces in all minerals… build for the blood and nerve system, see? (Cayce) The sand packs produce a “quickening, or pulsation through the superficial circulation” (Cayce), “stimulate the capillary circulation, and are more for the exterior forces…” (Cayce)

Sand Pack Directions

The Cayce readings are clear and specific in explaining the procedure for a sand pack. First, the sand that is to cover you must be dry and warm. Though the surface sand may meet these criteria most of the time, if there has been a rainfall even of short duration, the underlying sand, where the body would be partially buried, may still be moist and cool and, therefore, not appropriate for use. One may have to wait several days, then, for the deeper layers to dry out.

Take a dip in the ocean first, enveloping yourself entirely with sea water (this will help with iodine absorption). “Dip under like you are being baptized properly!” (Cayce) Then, immediately cover yourself or get someone to cover you with the dry, warm sand. Afterward, one person was told “[follow] same by a fresh bath and a spirited rubdown along the spine.” (Cayce) Another was told to rest “for fifteen minutes at least, so that the body has the opportunity to respond to those vibrations set up; for the pulsation is equalized by such applications.” (Cayce)

Guided by his own careful observations and intuition, Sandman Avrum Levine filled in more details to make it a truly healing ceremony. Because the sun’s rays are harmful during the noon hours, the sand pack is done before 11:30 a.m. or after 3:30 p.m. during Daylight Savings Time (10:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). These times are in keeping with the readings’ caution of “not too much of direct rays… from 11 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.” (Cayce)

Packers and recipients remain quiet and reverent throughout. Duties of the packers include preparing the area of the beach for the recipient: obtaining pails of extra sand from along the dunes, “that which has not been trampled over too much” (Cayce), and digging out the sand where the person would lie. Level the sand in an east-west direction, making small sand pillows to support the back of the neck and under the knees. “… at first [cover] only the lower limbs and the upper limbs, the arms and legs. Then gradually more and more cover the whole body, keeping the face in shadow or in the shade…” (Cayce) The covering is to be done with love and caring.

Excluding the face and head “the rest of the body should be in the sun as much as possible-that is, the mound of sand over the body should be in the sun, see? Do not let there be such a weight on the body as to cause a great deal of distress by the weight of the sand…” (Cayce) Packers continue to monitor the person, removing any sand from the area that feels too heavy or uncomfortable and helping the person up when the session feels complete. Rinse off afterward in the ocean.

How long should you lie buried? From ten to twenty minutes’ time was mentioned most frequently, although one person was advised to begin with five to eight minutes, increasing it from ten to twenty after a week. Frequency ranged from once a day, every other day, once or twice a week to three to four times a week, or three to five days in a row.

More About Sand Packs

Mentioned in fifty-nine readings for thirty-seven individuals, sand packs were recommended as a partial treatment modality for people with arthritis, poor circulation or elimination, general debilitation, colitis, and lesions. Two people were advised not to take them, one because it would stimulate the external capillary circulation when stimulation of the internal circulation would be more useful (Cayce), and the second, a sixty-four-year-old man, was told that it would be “Too much of a [stimulus] to the capillary circulation… Too heavy for the heart stimulant.” (Cayce)

Virginia Beach was not the only location for sand packs. Besides the Virginia coast, the west coast of Florida and more specifically the Clearwater and St. Petersburg areas are also good locations. Seabreeze Beach is noted, but its exact location is not given. One mention is made of each of the following: the east coast of Florida, the lower coasts of California, and the beaches of North Carolina. When asked if salt water was beneficial, Cayce answered that the “Sand that carries gold and radium and salt” was the most beneficial. (Cayce)

Elaine Hruska is a therapist at the A.R.E. Houston Spa and former teacher at the Cayce/Reilly* School of Massotherapy. This article is reprinted with permission by Venture Inward Newsletter, Virginia Beach, VA.